Process of manufacturing signs



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R. A. SGHLNEGBL. PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING SIGNS;

No. 530,354. Pteted Deo. 4, 1894.-

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Nmn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT A. SCIILEGIIL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

PROCESS QF MANUFACTURING SIGNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,354, dated December 4, 1894.

Application filed .Tune 2'7, 1894. Serial No. 515,832. (No specimens.) 4

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. SOHLEGEI., of the city of St.Louis, State of Missouri, have lnvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Signs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming-a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improved processes in the manufacture of signs and consists in steps more particularly set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of one end of the completed sign. Fig. 2 iS a vertical section showing the dierent layers of the sign before the same is subjected to the action of the sand blast. Fig. 3 is a similar section taken through one of the letters or characters after the sign has been subjected to the sand blast operation; and Fig. 4 is a perspective detail showing a portion of a letter cut into the glue paper attached to the rear of the sign.

The object of my invention is to construct a mirror-back plate glass sign in which the silver deposit on the back of the plate is cut away along lines intended to represent the lettering or other design constituting the sign, the resulting lettersbeing afterward painted or covered with any desirable color` to suitably contrast with the surrounding silver background.

By my improved process the permanent silver coating is, by the aid of a sand blast converted into a stencil for the letters of which the sign is to be composed, the edges of the letters by this process being well defined since i. the line of demarkation between the letters such a plate impervious to moisture a coating lof shellac varnish 4 covers the silver coating; and nally to protect the layer of varnish from atmospheric and other infiuences, and to fully protectthey mirror back I cover the layer of varnish with a coating of bronze `powder 5 the coating being prepared by mixing bronze powder with a suitable proportion of bronze liquid or any suitable vehicle well known in'the art.

To the rear surface of the coating 5 is temporarily attached or pasted a layer or two of glue paper 6 properly moistened. The particular lettering which` is to constitute the sign is cut out from the glue paper layer by meansof asharp knife or other instrument,in this way leaving exposed the coating 5 along the lines so cut as bestseen in Fig. 4. At this stage of the process therefore, we have the let.

tering of the sign cut through the glue paper and fully outlined on the back of the surface 5. The sign is then taken to the sand blast and the back thereof is subjected to the action of the sand for a period of about ten minutes, the blast in that period removing the coatings 5, 4, and 3 in the areas so confined by the lines cut from the glue paper. The blast is continued for a minute or two longer when the rough surface 2 will also have been slightly penetrated and worn smooth so as to present a ground surface 7 for the coating of paint with which the letters are subsequently covered. The sign is next removed from the sand blast and the glue pfaper 6 is carefully peeled OE. At this stage of the operation therefore, the particular design or letter is cut through the successive layers 5, 4, 3, and penetrating the roughened surface 2, so that, that portion which has not been blasted away, (that is that portion covered by the glue paper during the blasting operation) serves as a-permanntstenci1 for the letters thus cutout from it. vThis stencil (composed of layers 5, 4, and 3) adhering irmlyLto the back of the plate 1 constitutes a most desirable form of stencil and the edges or outlines of the letters are well defined and characteristically sharp. At the next stage of the operation each letter is painted on the back with TOO any suitable color, the ground surface 7 resulting from the action of the Sand blast being a most desirable surface for the plaint to adhere to and thus intensify the body of the particular color used in painting the sign. After each individual letter has been painted, a final coating of white lead may be given the back to keep out moisture.

The sign when completed may be incased in a suitable frame 8 having suitable rods 9 for suspending the same.

The layers shown in the drawings are greatly exaggerated as to thickness, this being so shown to facilitate the description of the process. The plates with the coatings 3, 4, and 5 may be made in quantities before being subjected to the air blast. When so subjected it is essential that the silver deposit shall be fully protected; and it is for this purpose that the bronze powder coating is used. It is apparent that the silver precipitate can be replaced by any other adhering metallic precipitate, such as gold, copper, or the like; and that for the glass plate 1 any equivalent transparent plate may be substituted.

Having described my invention, what I claim is f 1. In the manufacture of signs, the process of coating the rough side of a crystal plate glass with a precipitate of silver, delineating the outline of the design or letter on the back of said precipitate, and. subjecting the portion so outlined to the action of the sand blast until the rough surface is penetrated, and a ground surface formed, then painting said ground7 surface, substantially as set forth.

2. In the manufacture of signs, the process of coating the rough side of a crystal plate glass with a precipitate of silver, next coating said precipitate with suitable varnish,

next coating said varnish layer with a metallic powder suspended in a suitable vehicle and allowing the successive coatings to dry, then delineating the outline of the design or letter on the back of the nal coating, and nally subjecting the portion so outlined to the action of the sand blast until the rough surface of the glass is penetrated, thus presenting a ground surface, then painting said ground surface, substantially as set forth.

3. The process of manufacturing signs which consists first in covering the rough side of aplate glass with aprecipitate of silver, then covering the same with a coating of shellac varnish, then covering said last coating with a layer of bronze powder suspended in bronze liquid, pasting a suitable layer of glue paper on the last'coating, cutting out the particular design or letters from the glue paper and thus delineating the character of the design on the last coating, subjecting that side of the sign to the yaction of a sand blast until the successive coatings thus exposed are penetrated and until the rough side of the glass is sufficiently penetrated to present a ground surface, then removing or peeling off the glue paper, and painting the rear of the letters upon the ground surface thus made, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT A. SCHLEGEL. lVitnesses:

J AMES J. ODoNoHoE, EMIL; STAREK. 

